Valentine's Day
by V.Valentine
Summary: X-Men:EvoFinal Fantasy VII Crossover! What happens when we have a teenage Vincent Valentine come to the Xavier Institute, trying to figure out what he is? A story, that's what. Please Read and Review. Chapter 10 now up!
1. Changes

Changes  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: I don't own X-Men Evolution, or anything to do with the X-Men, neither do I own Vincent Valentine or anything to do with Final Fantasy. The people who do are lucky and bastards for not letting me have it. As usual, please Read and Review.  
  
"Hey! Give me that! It's mine!" Jean yelled, currently chasing after Bobby running as fast as he could away from her, a letter in his hands and a gigantic smile on his face.  
  
"This love letter from Scott is priceless, Jean. 'I miss you every day that we're not together, and my heart yearns for the day till I come back to you.' Aww!" Bobby said, and quoted from the letter, then proceeded to laugh as hard as he could, without giving away his lead from Jean. He then immediately iced up, covering his body the sleek, metallic sheen of the ice he created, and proceeded to ice slide all the way to the open front door of the mansion.  
  
Jean, seeing his attempt to get away, stopped and concentrated on the front door, slamming it shut with her Telekinesis. Bobby, not noticing this yet being still occupied with the letter, looked up only to be greeted by the fine wood finish of their front door. Bobby immediately fell to the floor with a thud and an oof, the ice disappearing from his body.  
  
With a smile on her face, Jean strode over to Bobby, and casually picked up the letter in his hand. "That will teach you not to pry in the private lies of others. Besides, he really does miss me." She said with a content smile, as she turned to look at him, but opening the door again with her telepathy. "Now go and find Hank for your exercise session. I'm sure he thinks that you're already-" She began, as he turned to see someone standing at the front door steps, looking to her.  
  
She immediately flushed crimson with embarrassment; thinking that the person had witnessed the whole thing, and was wondering was going on. But then she stopped when she realized that it was a teenager, not older than nineteen, with obsidian hair framing his face, and letting it go around his shoulders carelessly. His hazel eyes were looking to her emerald ones, and his eyebrow was raised slightly, looking to her.  
  
"This.is the Xavier Institute, is it not?" He calmly asked, his expression not changing much from when Jean had first seen him. "If this is a bad time, perhaps I should come back later?" He offered, a hint of a smile on his face, as he looked to Jean.  
  
"Oh..Oh no, of course not! Now is just fine, I was just reprimanding Bobby here for prying into my room and taking something!" Jean hastily explained, realized that she had been caught staring.  
  
The teenager nodded, as he looked to Bobby on the floor. "Well, at least I'll know not to do such a thing, if it produces that result." He says, as he looks back to Jean. "My name is Vincent Valentine." He says, finding his introduction for her. He was clad in a pair of loose fitting black jeans, a black button up dress shirt, but the top two buttons unbuttoned, and a red trench coat hanging onto his form on his shoulders, with a bag on his back.  
  
"It's nice to meet you, Vincent. Won't you please come in?" Jean asks, as Vincent nods, moving to step over Bobby, making his way into the institute. He then looks to Jean, who then looks to Bobby, as he starts to get up. "Bobby, would you inform the professor that we have a guest." She says, as Bobby was about to protest, but remembered what just happened, and that nodded eventually walking off. "What brings you to the institute, Vincent?" She asks, as he was setting down his bag.  
  
"I was told this was the place to come to, if you were a mutant. I doubt that I am, but recent events have lead me to believe otherwise." He says, as he looks to her, Jean nodding in response. As she was looking him over, she did notice how darkly attractive he was, but shook that thought away trying to think of Scott instead.  
  
"What makes you think you're a mutant?" She asks, as Vincent crosses his arms over his chest, and takes a deep breath in, and then lets it go before answering.  
  
"A few days ago, I was in New York City, and I was attacked by a group of people calling themselves the "Friends of Humanity". They had me cornered in an alley, and then I remember getting mad, and upset, and then I felt myself black out. When I came to, they were all dead, in various states of pieces. Naturally, I don't know how I did it, and then I heard about this place on the TV. That's when I headed here." He says, explaining what had happened to him, as Jean almost looked horrified.  
  
"How could they do that to you? Were you hurt?" She asked as Vincent shrugged, not sure how to answer that.  
  
"I remember being hurt before I blacked out, but when I came to, I didn't have a scratch on me. As to what happened when I blacked out, I wouldn't be able to tell you. The only ones that could would be the ones that attacked me, and I'm afraid that's not possible anymore." He says, as Jean nods, trying to fit everything together.  
  
"Well, we certainly have ways to test you to see if you have the X-gene, but as to what happened you blacked out, and why you did it, that'll be a little harder to figure out. Until the professor can determine what happened, that is." She says, trying to give him some hope in the situation.  
  
Vincent just reacted to this, with the usual stoic look on his face "Professor?" He questioned mildly. The only professor he had ever known before this one, he hated with a passion.  
  
Jean nodded simply. "Professor Xavier. He's a mutant, just like me. He has the ability to read minds, and is probably the most powerful psychic on the planet. If anybody can help you figure out what happened, he can." She says, as Vincent nods simply.  
  
"Until then, what shall I do?" He asks, as Jean almost slapped herself for her lack of manners.  
  
"Oh.of course, you're probably tired. You can have one of the guest rooms we have here. It seems like the Professor won't be back until later tonight, so feel free to relax until then." She says, as she motions for him to follow her, as she strides off down one of the hallways. Vincent nods, as he picks up his bag and follows her down the hall.  
  
On the way, Kurt and Kitty rush past them, Kurt holding the remote control in his hands, as he moves to teleport out of the way once Kitty got close enough to try and catch him.  
  
"Give it up, Kitty. You won't be getting ze remote control away from me. We're watching Baywatch, and that's that." Kurt explains with a grin, as Kitty looks up to him and growls slightly.  
  
"Kurt, you better, like, keep on teleporting or else I'm going to have to hurt you when I, like, catch you!" Kitty yells as she continues to follow after the bounding Nightcrawler. Vincent looked to Jean with a raised eyebrow again, as Jean just slowly shook her head.  
  
"Don't ask. It's just another Tuesday around here." She says, as Vincent just nods at that, and follows after her, again. They stop in front of very nicely decorated guest room, as Jean opens the door for him. "I hope you like this room. This will give you a chance to be comfortable." She says, as Vincent steps in looking around, and sets down his bag.  
  
"This should do very nicely. Thank you." Vincent says, as he looks back to Jean. She nodded slightly, smiling to him.  
  
"You're very welcome. If you want, once you get settled in, you can come join us all in the rec. room. It'll give you a chance to meet the others." Jean says, as Vincent nods slightly.  
  
"Thank you once again. I shall be down shortly." He says simply as Jean nods as closes the door, leaving him to his own business. Vincent then turns away from the door, and looks around the room. Picking up his bag, he walks over to the dresser, with a large mirror attached to it at the top. Beginning to unpack his stuff from his bag, and into the dresser, Vincent briefly looks up to mirror, to his own reflection.  
  
The room was surely quiet, as he did so. Almost unnaturally quiet. He was trying to rationalize that it was his own imagination, and that such thoughts were foolish. But then he looked up to the mirror once again, and this time, a voice came with it.  
  
"Release me, Valentine...." The voice commanded softly, inside of his head.  
  
Vincent looked around the room, not finding anyone else in there with him, as he slowly just shook his head, and as soon as he was finished, the voice was gone. After a few moments to check to see if he was hearing anything again, he shrugged it off, and finished up unpacking into the dresser.  
  
After a few moments of relaxing, seeing that he was unpacked, he removes the trench coat from his body, and tosses it onto the bed. Sighing softly, he moves to the door from his room, and then opens it, walking into the hall that leads out the rec. room.  
  
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	2. He Doesn't Make Friends Well

He Doesn't Make Friends Well  
  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: Gomen nasai everyone about not updating sooner. The man, also known as my job has been keeping me very occupied. But here's a new chapter for everyone's favorite demon. And what's this? A possible love interest? Stay Tuned. I'd like to thank all my reviewers and I promise to try and get these chapters out faster. Onto the story!  
  
Vincent had to give whoever decorated this place great credit. All the walls and ceilings were lined with best paintings and furnishings fit for a king. He mused this Professor Xavier was like a king to these people, with how highly they all spoke of him. Still, he had his doubts. Every doctor that he could remember going to was less than favorable in his mind. Why should this one be any different?  
  
Several other children passed him by as he looked to them all, wondering what each of their abilities were. It was a strange fascination sure, but he couldn't help but feel it. Maybe to assuage a possible threat to him, though he didn't know why he should feel threatened by them. But the typical hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, he knew that for sure. The mansion was humongous, and everywhere he looked he saw at least two children running off to be somewhere in a hurry.  
  
Coming to the end of the hallway, he looked around to what he decided was probably the rec. room. Several of the other students were there, some watching TV, some playing pool. Some of them looking to him as he walked in the room. It dawned on him that he was now "the new kid" and that these looks he was greeting was going to be the first of many. And then the feeling hit him again, that he should be on guard for something, but against what still wasn't answered.  
  
It was then when Jean caught his eyes, she was obviously waiting for him since leaving him in his room. "Vincent, over here!" She called, motioning him over, as he nodded and strolled over to her. "Glad you found your way here. " She said with a soft smile, as he nodded once more.  
  
"Don't give me too much praise. I got lost several times." Vincent said, procuring a laugh from Jean, and he didn't even realize that he had said something funny. It didn't sound humorous to him, anyways.  
  
"Well, since you're here, I can introduce you to some of the other students. Come on." She said, taking his arm, with a widened-eyed look from Vincent to her for such an abrupt action. "You already met Bobby, Kitty and Kurt earlier. They have other names but let's take things slow for right now." She said, beginning to talk. Vincent sighed slightly, wondering if he just volunteered himself to be shown off like some new pet to all the others.  
  
Pulling him to a group of girls setting on a couch in the back of the room, she and him stopped in front of them. "Hey ladies, I want to introduce the newest student. This is Vincent Valentine." Jean said, looking to Vincent who looked back to the girls and gave a small wave to them all, unsure of what to do. "Um, hello." Vincent simply said as Jean looks back to the girls.  
  
"Starting on the left, that's Amara, Tabitha, Rahne, Jubilee, and Emma. She's new here too." She says as he looks to all of them and gives a small nod, and ends up looking to Emma, who meets his gaze with a stone cold ice glare. As if he was unworthy to be in her presence. He looked back to all the other girls, who he could see had a slight tinge of blush in their cheeks as they looked to him, but that didn't last long as Jean pulled him off to go meet some of the others.  
  
Once they were out of earshot, the group of girls started giggling to each other, save for Emma. "Ach, did ye see the butt on that one?" Rahne said with a content sigh as the group of girls, save for Emma again, laughed. "Wrap him up and put a ribbon around him, I'll take him home with me!" Jubilee exclaimed as that procured more laughs, as Emma sighed, looking to them all.  
  
"I don't know what the big fuss is. He was mildly attractive. Nothing to write home about." She said, with a no nonsense kind of tone. Still, she found herself looking to the back of Vincent's frame, and maybe for just a split second, the ice glare broke. But even if it did, no one was paying attention to notice it.  
  
As Jean continued to drag Vincent around, she rambled on about other happenings in the mansion. "You'll probably meet the grown-ups tomorrow. Ororo and Logan are out for the day, and Beast and the Professor are coming back later tonight with Scott." She said, a small smile appearing on her lips as she thought about her boyfriend. "A friend with benefits, I take it?" Vincent questioned with a raised eyebrow as that made Jean blush. "No, Scott and I are purely...well we're definitely...We'll figure it out later." Jean ended lamely, as that made Vincent smirk as he was lead around the rec. room.  
  
Stopping in front of the TV, Jean and Vincent looked to the boys on the other couch. "Guys, we just got a new recruit. This is Vincent." Jean said, pointing to Vincent, who just nodded again, but all the other guys did the same. A mutual sign of non commitment of deciding on what to make of the other person at that time. From the right, that's Sam, Roberto and Jamie." Jean said, as she looked around the rest of the room to look for anyone else.  
  
"I think that's everyone. But there will be more people tomorrow to meet. I don't know if you're hungry-but I'm gonna grab something to-" Jean began, but stopped as soon as the Mansion's alarms kicked up, sirens and red lights kicking up all over the house. Vincent immediately was on alert, and if anybody was looking at his right hand at the time, they would have seen his skin change from it's pale ivory, to a deep purple, replacing the layers of skin, with hard, lizard like scales.  
  
"Cerebro, what's wrong?" Jean questioned aloud as she thought it was perfect timing for someone to attack, without Scott or anybody else being here. "Scanners detect a single Sentinel unit on the ground." Cerebro responds, the logical and flat tone of the computer's voice evident to them all.  
  
Everyone in the room looked to each other, then raced out to the front. They remembered how much damage the first Sentinel they encountered did to their team. They were sure not to let it happen again. Jean was leading the charge outside, but all of them stopped looking up to Sentinel, it's glowing yellow eyes hummed with electricity as it looked down to them. This unit was bigger than the last, by at least ten feet. ~A improved model. Perfect.~ Jean mused but watched in horror as Vincent walked out in front of them all, a strange reddish glow filling his eyes.  
  
"Vincent, what are you doing?!?!? Get back here!" Jean cried, but Vincent continued on, as if in a deep trance that would cost him his life. And as she reached out with her psychic powers to pull him back, her eyes widened to the size of diner plates as she saw a rather mean looking demon creature standing there in his mind. The demon looked back to her, then roared, and she was forced to get out of his mind.  
  
The Sentinel looked down to Vincent, its files not recognizing anything on him. An unregistered or un-filed mutant meant death via its directives. "Termination Commencing." The Sentinel Announced as it's chest plate opened to reveal a rather imposing looking cannon, charging with a green energy. Vincent stood there, looking on to it as if it were nothing, and didn't even wince as the green light enveloped him, incinerating anything with it's range.  
  
And as the light faded, and the rest of the students uncovered their eyes. Vincent was still standing in the middle of the blast zone, his clothes tattered from the blast, but that seemed to be the only thing he took damage from. The same eerie red glow filled his eyes, as he removed his jacket and tossed it to the side. As soon as that was done, Vincent was surrounded by a brilliant orange reddish light, as he braced his fee tin the ground.  
  
His shirt and pants were ripped from his body, as his muscles expanded outwards, his skin joining his right hand in being covered with the same hard, purple lizard-like sales. He teeth lengthen out to form a gaping maw, venom dripping from his fangs as a long tail shot out from his tail bone, swishing along the ground lightly. Claws and Talons appeared on his hands and feet as razor sharp horns erupted from his forehead, sticking out towards the heavens. His hair lengthened and turned a wild crimson, flaring out in all directions. And as a finishing touch, bat like wings, spanning twenty feet across split out from his back flapping a couple of times once they were out to lift him into the air.  
  
Jean looked to this transformation of his, which couldn't have lasted past thirty seconds, and pondered that this is what met up with the Friends of Humanity. And this is why they lost. Chaos raised himself up to be eye level with the Sentinel, as the Sentinel's hand lashed out at him, trying to grab him and prevent him from flying. But within an instant, Chaos disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the Sentinels arm. Gripping his claws and talons into the metal, he pulled back, eventually ripping the arm right from the socket.  
  
The Sentinel stumbled as it lost the arm, sparks flying everywhere from the ripped and torn wiring. Chaos floated in the air, looking to the air like it was a wooden club, and moved to pull back, winding up for a big swing. With a giant whoosh, that almost broke the sound barrier, Chaos swung at the sentinel and knocked it into the air, like it was a foul ball. Chaos watched for a moment, and then saw it drop into the bay, content to see it sink like a rock. A toothy grin appeared on his face, as he moved to chuck the Sentinel arm into the bay as well, then slowly descend to the ground.  
  
As he landed, he looked to all the students, some hiding behind things to avoid being seen. What was clearly evident from all of them, was that they were afraid. Shaking his head lightly, he wrapped his massive wings around himself and the slowly started to change back to Vincent. Once the change was down, Vincent collapsed to the ground, nude as the day he was born, as the students eventually rushed over to him. Jean grabbed his trench coat and was about to drape it over him, but took a moment to enjoy the view, as did most of the other girls, while the guys turned away immediately.  
  
Realizing what she was doing, she draped the coat over Vincent's unconscious body, and looked to Bobby. "We need to get him into the Ed-lab, now. We'll the Professor handle this when he gets home. Hopefully, Vincent will wake up by then." Jean said, as Bobby nodded, and created an ice slide under Vincent all the way into the house and into the med-bay. 


	3. From Realities To Nightmares

From Realities to Nightmares  
  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: Doumo Arigatou to everyone who have reviewed so far! I appreciate all the positive feedback. And because of it, I got this chapter out just a little faster than normal. All the standard disclaimers apply. This chapter: Vincent/Chaos meet up with Professor Xavier!  
  
Vincent felt like a semi-truck and just hit him, and then proceeded to back up, then run over him again by the time he was coming to. His head was throbbing, and he felt dizzy, not to mention that he felt like he wanted to throw up everything he had eaten in the past twelve years. Vincent slowly opened one of his hazel yes, then the other, as he was sure there were other people in the room with him, as he could clearly hear voices talking. It wasn't until he sat up a little more that he could clarify what the voices were saying.  
  
"And then he tore the Sentinel apart with his bare hands, Professor! It took all of us to beat just one and he did it by himself!" The voice proclaimed, Vincent instantly recognizing it as Jean's voice. She must have brought him back inside from the Sentinel attack. It was odd that he remembered the attack, but didn't remember coming back in.  
  
"I don't like the smell of this one, Charles. He isn't right." Another voice said, this one lower and gruffer as if he was the epitome of roughness in vocal form. From what Vincent could see of him, He had black- slicked back hair that almost went around his head like ears. Vincent was sure he was seeing things now.  
  
"That may be, Logan, but as far I as I know Vincent hasn't done anything wrong. He doesn't have control of his powers. Can we fault him for that?" Another voice said, Vincent hearing the voice to be more of a distinguished quality, and more educated at that. He looked to the person who said that and saw that he was in a wheelchair. And at that time, Professor Xavier looked to Vincent, and managed a smile for him. "Good Afternoon, Vincent. My name is Charles Xavier. I see you're awake now. Good." Professor Xavier said as Vincent looked to him.  
  
"What happened? I feel like crap." Vincent said bluntly as Jean looked to him, a shocked look on her face. "You mean you don't remember? Vincent, you saved us from that Sentinel. Can't you remember changing?" Jean asked, as Professor Xavier motioned for her to tone it down a notch as she questioned him.  
  
"Change into what?" Vincent questioned as Logan moved right into his face and got within one inch of Vincent. "Don't play games with us, bub. You nearly destroyed half the countryside with that little stunt of yours. Now tell us what you are!" Logan demanded, emitting a low feral growl towards Vincent. Vincent however looked totally unfazed as he looked straight into Logan's eyes.  
  
"Maybe I could tell you if I knew what I did. Now again, what happened? I hate repeating myself." Vincent asked again, a hint of annoyance in his voice, and a slight flash of crimson in his eyes. Professor Xavier moved his wheelchair over to the other side of Vincent's med-bed, moving into the unoccupied spot. "You truly don't remember, Vincent? When the Sentinel came, you went out and fought it. And while you may not remember it, Security Cameras remember everything." Xavier said as he reached up to turn on one of the nearby monitors and pushing play. Everyone in the room turned to look at the monitor, as Vincent's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.  
  
And there before him, Vincent saw himself approach the Sentinel, and saw the crimson light wrap around him like a blanket and the gradual change into Chaos. And there he saw Chaos proceed to rip the Sentinel's arm off as if it were nothing and hit the main unit with his own arm, then chuck the arm into the ocean. And then Vincent saw Chaos float to the ground, look around, then slowly change back to what he feared most. Himself. And as the tape ended, everyone turned back to Vincent. "But.that's impossible! How..what..why..I can't explain any of that!" Vincent stammered out, as Jean noticed his arm twitching slightly.  
  
"It's alright, Vincent. My theory is that you're a mutant. And that, whatever you changed into, is a manifestation of your gifts. You're like us, Vincent." Professor Xavier commented, trying to calm Vincent down some. Vincent just nodded numbly, all of this being a lot to take in, in one dose of news. "This could also explain why that group of protestors attacked you in New York, and what happened to them. It wasn't you, it was this manifestation of your gifts." Professor Xavier continued on, but all of them turned to look to the med lab door, as the Beast came bounding in.  
  
"Charles, come quickly." Hank began, but looked to Vincent, now obviously awake. "Good, you're awake. You better come along too. It concerns you as well." Hank said, then turning as fast as he came in, bouncing back towards the lab. Vincent nodded and moved to get up, but then stopped as he removed the blanket over him and hastily covered himself back up. "On a separate note, where are my clothes?" Vincent questioned as Logan tossed him a pair of the Academy's sweats and sweatshirt. "Take these, kid. Red here says you're clothes got destroyed in the attack." Logan said, as he nodded to Jean, and then moved to leave with everyone else. Vincent hastily put on the clothes and got out of the med bed and joined everyone else.  
  
As soon as Vincent was in the lab, everyone was waiting for him, but then turned back to the large screen in front of them all. Vincent looked to the new person he hadn't seen before, a beautiful woman with platinum silver hair and eyes like the color of the fiercest storm. As she looked to him, she managed a small smile for him. "Hello Vincent. I'm Ororo." She says in a soft, musical voice as Vincent just nodded, looking to her. He joined all of the others up front, as Hank looked to him. "Do you know who your parents were, Vincent?" Hank questioned as Vincent looked back to him shrugging slightly.  
  
"I'll never know. I was adopted as a baby. My real parents died in a plane crash, or least that's what my foster parents said." Vincent said simply, as Professor Xavier looked to him. "And what happened to your foster parents, Vincent?" The Professor questioned as Vincent looked to him, shrugging again. "They died about two months ago. Some kind of electrocution. The found a hair dryer next to them in a bathtub full of water." Vincent explained, as Professor Xavier nodded, but wasn't sure if he believed Vincent entirely, especially with this new showing of his powers. Vincent turned back to Hank, speaking again. "Why do you ask?" Vincent asked, as Hank looked from him to the large screen in front of them all.  
  
"The name Valentine sounded oddly familiar. From what we have from SHIELD about events in history, I was rummaging through some old newspapers, when I found this. I found it in the Tokyo Sun Newspaper." Hank said motioning for them all to take a look at the screen. Vincent moved out in front of them, clearing his throat to read aloud. "James and Victoria Valentine are proud to report that they just gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy, last Tuesday. James and Victoria are both trusted advisors to the Emperor and the nation of Japan wishes to congratulate them on the birth of their child. Official reports say that the two proud parents will go back to work immediately on securing the future of the glorious nation of Japan, along with their fellow colleague, Professor Nobunga Hojo." Vincent finished reading as he looked back to Hank. "What does it mean?" Vincent asked, as Hank gently patted his shoulder, and looked to him. "There's more. This article was dated on October 13th. There's another one that caught my attention." Hank said, switching over to the next article. Vincent turned to the screen and read aloud again.  
  
"An unfortunate event happened in Hiroshima yesterday, as the bodies of James and Victoria Valentine were found shot in their lab, late last night. Both of the bodies were pronounced DOA at the time they were received to the hospital. Professor Nobunga Hojo, fellow colleague and co-worker, reported the incident and said he would do the honorable thing, and take care of the couple's newly born child as his own. Police do not have any reports or leads as to who did this just yet, but are hard at work at solving this case." Vincent finished reading, as he looked to everyone. "I still don't have any idea of what any of this means to me." Vincent said, as Hank took off his glasses looking to him. "Vincent, the last article was dated on March 27, 1945. Just one week before the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You're over fifty years old, Vincent." Hank said simply, as a look of shock and pure horror filled Vincent's face.  
  
"No..no it can't be!" Vincent cried out as he stammered back from all of them, the eerie crimson color filling his eyes yet again, as he tried to make his way for the door. "Vincent! Calm down! We can help you!" Professor Xavier exclaimed as he looked to Vincent. But with a sudden burst of air, and a flash of crimson, Vincent cried out, which gradually turned into a loud roar. And as everyone else looked back to Vincent, Chaos stood floating in his place. With another roar, Chaos shot upwards out of the room, breaking through the ceilings and roof to fly out into the sunset, heading east towards the horizon. 


	4. Primal Instincts

Primal Instincts  
  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: Two chapter update! I'm cranking them out like hot cakes! Actually, I'm waiting for the next episode of Sealab 2021 to start, so I thought I'd move things along just a little more. Thanks go out to all my reviewers and if you like what you're reading, feel free to read my other works. All the usual disclaimers apply. Onto the next chapter!  
  
The stars were twinkling out in the night sky like diamonds, as Chaos flew through the obsidian blackness, seeing the outline of Tokyo ahead of him. He knew that he had been flying for a while, because Valentine hadn't tried to wake up just yet. Whatever it was, it had Vincent down long enough for him to emerge for as long as he had, and freedom was a very good thing. The rush of the evening breeze went through his crimson locks of hair as he flew towards the city of Tokyo, but he had absolutely no idea why he was even here in the first place. Valentine was prompting him here, he imagined. Chaos smirked; the boy was finally starting to learn his gifts.  
  
Taking a sharp left as he got into the main land, Chaos headed south, towards where Hiroshima was. As much as a rebuilding effort was helping, the inhabitants could still remember the fateful day the bomb was dropped. Chaos smell the radiation off of them, it coming off of their bodies like a sick stench that needed to be washed off. Those that were lucky to be alive weren't so lucky in the fact that the bomb's effects would be with them forever. At least the land healed itself after a while.  
  
Chaos didn't know exactly what he was looking for here; he wasn't even sure what Valentine was looking for here. But, Valentine wanted to be here, and if it meant he was able to get out to do it, Chaos was not going to brook an argument over it. The more he flew, the closer he got to their destination, so Chaos speeded up just a bit, an extra flap of his massive wings every now and then. He looked down to see rice farmers look up to see him, and the shocked looks on their faces as he passed them by, his outline clear in the moonlight. Chaos didn't try to hide his appearance; a little fear would do the people well.  
  
And as he finally got into the city of Hiroshima, Chaos landed on the roof on one of the newer constructed buildings. He looked out over the city; he could feel several people sound asleep in their beds. Some people were arguing, some people were dying.some people were mating. A look of disgust appeared on Chaos's face. Human mating events were so sickening to him. It didn't even look like they enjoyed it half the time.  
  
Chaos proceeded to climb down the building he was on, as he slowly approached the ground. Leaping the rest of the way down, he went to all fours and started sniffing the ground lightly, smelling for any familiar scents that would lead them to what they both wanted. Chaos was sure to remain as stealthy as possible, but as direct as he could be. The longer he was out here in the open, the more of a chance that he would get spotted. Picking up on something on the flowing breeze by him, Chaos rushed down one of the secluded streets to a manhole, in the center. The scent was definitely coming from in there, and he needed to see why. Picking up the manhole cover like it was nothing, Chaos tossed it aside and climbed into the sewer below.  
  
Chaos landed in a river of filth that he didn't even want to begin to imagine what was in it. Snorting lightly, trying to get the stench away from him, Chaos crawled through the sewer towards where the scent was coming from. He followed it down an intricate series of pathways and walkways, sometimes attaching himself to the ceiling and walking along that, and having his tail drag the filth, to pick up any rats for a quick snack for him. And as he rounded the newest turn in his path, he stopped to see a pile of rubble and rocks blocking the rest of the way. But the scent was coming from that way, and Chaos was not about to stop now.  
  
Moving to the rubble, Chaos moved to start grabbing what he could and tossing it away. It didn't seem like he was making a lot of progress at the beginning, but soon he could see a hole that lead into almost a perfectly preserved basement of some kind. Once he cleared enough of the rubble to get away, Chaos climbed into the hole, dropping to his feet, and started to look around. The rhythmic hum of machinery was still going, as computers beeped and pulsed with electricity. Chaos sniffed around, not finding anyone around, though he didn't think there would be now. Didn't the blue furry one say something about a bomb? No wonder this place was abandoned.  
  
As he walked towards the back of the laboratory, he saw three large containers, able to hold a human sized person easily. Chaos lightly sniffed each container, each one reeking with some scent he had never smelled before and he didn't like, he knew that for sure. He walked past the containers to something that looked like a monitor, almost like a TV. Chaos wondered how advanced these people were to have this already back in their time. Something was definitely going on here, and it was too late now to get out of it.  
  
Chaos looked to the side of the TV, several recording tapes were lying to the side of the monitor, and much like something someone would put into a VCR. They had been labeled, apparently for convenience as he read the labels. "Vincent-One Month", "Vincent-Three Months", "Hojo-Final Experiment". Chaos looked to the tapes, and pondered what Vincent had to do with them. Deciding to find out first hand and to have the best place to watch, Chaos slowly let Vincent have control again, as Chaos's form slowly melted away to show Vincent's body standing just where Chaos had been. Vincent looked down to himself, and the clothes he was still wearing. "At least I'm not naked this time." Vincent remarked slightly, as he ran a hand through his hair. "I..feel better." Vincent said to himself, wondering why he felt better than before he changed to Chaos.  
  
Vincent looked to the tapes Chaos had been looking at, as he read the labels as well. Taking the One Month tape, he put it into the slot, as the TV fizzled and buzzed to life, as the black and white tape came onto the screen. And there before Vincent, a man with long black obsidian hair stood in front of the camera as he was apparently adjusting it for the best shot. He smiled as he joined a woman on a carpet in a living room. "I hope this thing works. If it does, we can patent it off." The man says, as the woman next to him smiled, while she moved to grab a baby from the nearby crib. The baby started to protest as she gently shushed him. "There there, Vincent. It's all right. It's just one of daddy's inventions." The woman gently comforted the child, as the man looked over to the baby, and lightly played peek-a-boo with it. Vincent lightly touched the screen, as he could feel the sting of tears starting to come from his eyes.  
  
Moving to a more comfortable spot, Vincent watched the first tape. It documented his motor skills for being one month old, and his ability to follow a pen with his eyes no matter where it went. And then as soon as it began, it ended, leaving the clichéd snow on the TV screen where the images were. Vincent moved to put in the second tape, and sat back in the spot he picked out again, and watch. Now, the camera was fixed on him as a baby, sitting up on an examination table. His parents weren't anywhere to be found in the scene, but suddenly another man with long black obsidian hair and wire frame glasses came into the picture. "And how's my little guinea pig today? Come now, speak up!" The man said with a cruel laugh as he turned to face the camera, clearing his throat. "This is the first trial of Subjects new abilities. Test commencing, Nobunga Hojo conducting." Professor Hojo said, as he turned back to the baby, and lightly pulled out a pointer stick, and started to poke the baby with it. And soon, Vincent began to cry, the poking stick getting uncomfortable to him. And as Vincent was watching himself crying, he could almost see a flash of crimson appear in the younger version of himself, directed in the eyes. Professor Hojo then turned back to the camera. "Test Failed. Subject needs more direct motivation. Fortunately, I have a new specimen that just came in. I'm sure they'll be best friends." Professor Hojo said with a cruel laugh, as the tape quickly shut off.  
  
Vincent moved to remove the tape, and look to the third and final tape, wondering if he even wanted to play the tape. Deciding that he should, Vincent put in the new tape, and sat back to watch what was on it. The camera immediately fixed on Hojo, as he was looking into the camera, smiling. "April Second, 1945. I've decided to let those pigs in Tokyo do what they will to my funding. I'm a genius and the world will soon know my name! Vincent was just put into stasis hibernation, some quaint technology we got from the Nazi's. I'm told their leader, Red Skull, was put into hibernation as well. It doesn't really matter. Vincent will be the greatest killing machine this world has ever seen, and he will make me ruler of the world! The demonic cells within him will eventually boil out of control with his rage, and the world will be forced to bow to me as Emperor! I've heard those American dogs are going to try and attempt something within the next couple of days. Let them come. I am Hojo!" Hojo shouts as the tape abruptly cuts off, and the snow on the TV resumes.  
  
Vincent's eyes narrow at the screen at the screen, but he eventually hung his head, wondering why his parents would allow something like this to happen to their only child. Didn't they love him? Wouldn't they want to want to protect him? So many questions concerning his parents still remained, and he had only a few answers as to what he was. He was a freak, and he was never meant to be this way. He was just some pawn in another person's game of world domination. And he didn't feel much like playing anything right now. 


	5. Going Home Again

Going Home Again  
  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: Wow, a lot of good responses for my story so far. I think this is what's motivating me to get more chapters out. Or maybe it's because I just have a lot of time on my hands. Anyway, thanks to everybody that has reviewed the story so far, and hopefully you'll like this new chapter. All of the usual disclaimers apply.  
  
Two days have passed since Vincent found in the tapes in Hojo's laboratory. Vincent wondered if Hojo was even still alive after fifty years, presuming that he wasn't killed in the bomb blast that rocked Hiroshima. What bothered him even more was that even though it looked like his parents were American, they were working with the Japanese in the war. Were they traitors? And was he the project that was supposed to secure Japan's victory in the war? So many questions, and not a whole lot of answers. And for once, he wished he had an answer for at least one of the questions running through his mind. Maybe everything would start to come together then.  
  
Vincent didn't know how long he had been down here. He presumed his watch was torn off in the Sentinel incident. And as far as he could tell Chaos didn't want to come out as much as normal, maybe from all the exposure that he had getting the two of them here. At least that was something to be thankful for. Vincent had been sitting at what he presumed to be Hojo's desk, as he looked through any papers still in tact about what was done to him, possible cures, and any information about what he was really.  
  
"You're not going to find anything here, kid." A voice said from the entrance of the lab, as Vincent immediately looked up and moved back against the several bookcases in the lab. Vincent looked to the man, who was wearing a simple black trench coat, smoking on a cigar, and wearing an eye patch over one of his eyes. Vincent couldn't find any weapons nearby, but he still had Chaos, if this man was to attack him. "Who are you? How did you get here?" Vincent questioned looking to the man.  
  
"Easy, kiddo. The name's Nick Fury. I run a group called SHIELD. It's a anti-terrorism unit for the government." Nick explained, as he dared to move a few steps closer to Vincent. "As to how I got here, I got a call from Logan at Xavier's. They were concerned you decided to go demon across the countryside. At least I caught you when you're human." He said with a slight smirk, as Vincent remained unphased by the remark.  
  
"Being human has taken a new meaning for me, now that I'm starting to find out what I am. A freak that has a demon living inside of him because of some stupid experiment his parents and their buddy did. I use the term "human" loosely now, Mr. Fury." Vincent said with a dark gleam in his eyes, as the general nodded, looking to him.  
  
"Son, me of all people think that you have every right to be upset about this. What was done to you was wrong, and if any of us that know you know, knew you about then, we would have stopped what happened. But here's a life lesson that I'm gonna give to you right now. Somewhere, somebody is hurting more than you. Life sucks. Get used to it." Nick Fury said simply, and Vincent thought about that for a moment, before nodding simply. It made him feel slightly better.  
  
"Why are you here then?" Vincent questioned, as Nick Fury tossed away his old cigar, and lit up a new one. "The main reason is that Logan and them asked me to find you and come get you. Our resources are a bit more extended than theirs. But once I heard the last name was Valentine, I had to do it myself. What you see here is part of the story, not all of it. I'm thinking that you'd like to know it all." Nick Fury offered to him, Vincent thinking about it for a moment, then letting a small smile grace his lips. "You certainly have my attention now." Vincent said, as Nick Fury nodded as he motioned to follow him.  
  
General Fury had lead Vincent out of the tunnels that the laboratory was founded by, leading him back above ground. Vincent looked to Chaos's claw marks on the manhole cover that he tossed away to get down there. And as the reached the surface, a small hover plane was waiting for them to take them back to what Vincent could only assume to be SHIELD's headquarters. And he was right; as the plane took off once they got it, Fury not even piloting it. The plane took them way off into the reaches of the sky, as he looked out the window to a see a large, looming battle station type fortress slowly floating above the clouds, as if it was a cloud itself. The plane slowly landed on one of the many runways that the SHIELD fortress had to offer. Getting out along with Fury, Vincent looked to several SHIELD guards armed with imposing looking rifles all trained on him as they walked through the hallways of the fortress. Vincent cleared his throat gently, speaking to the General. "I think I already know the answer to this one, but what's with all the guards with the rifles?" Vincent questioned as Fury smiled to him. "It's not so much for you, but that demon of yours. They're orders that if you even start to change, they're to shoot you on sight." Fury explained, as Vincent looked to him.  
  
"That would suck." Vincent says simply, following Fury into a much larger main room, with several balconies above them, all with the same guards with the same rifles looking to him. Fury moved over to a large computer screen as he sat in a comfortable looking chair, swiveling to look back to Vincent. "Now, this is going to be a lot to take in, son. So try and stay with me. And again, no changes of yours, you hear me?" Fury confirmed, as Vincent nodded simply. "Good. Now that we got the bases covered, let's start with the beginning." Nick said, holding up a slide changer in his hand, as he turned to look back to the screen. He clicked the changer once, to show a picture of a baby on the screen.  
  
"Vincent Varion Valentine, born on October 13, 1944 in Tokyo, Japan." He said, looking back to Vincent once, to see that Vincent was intent on just looking at the screen. Nick Fury changed the slide again, to show his parents with Vincent in his mother's arms. "Parents: James and Victoria Valentine, ages 28 and 27, currently deceased due to gunshot wounds to the chest and head. Natives of San Francisco, California, and hobbies include movies, fine dining and other cultures, along with respective degrees in archaeology and sociology." Fury continued on, as he looked back to Vincent. "Your mother and father were scientists brought in during the race to build the atom bomb here in the states. They were on the verge of exposing an energy source that would make our strongest bomb now look like a peashooter. Somehow, the Japanese found out about this. The unofficial story is that your parents defected and started to work for the Japanese." Fury said, as Vincent looked to him.  
  
"So they were traitors?" Vincent questioned, as Fury shook his head. "No. I told you that's the unofficial story. Something to appease the public masses. The official story is that your parents were captured, and forced to work for Japan. The Japanese government wanted the energy source that your parents made the breakthrough on. They were going to take it and make a bomb that would have wiped out all of our major cities within a few strikes. We would have lost the war." Fury continued on, as Vincent nodded. "Fortunately, you came along. And in your own way, distracted your parents and that Hojo guy from making all of the preparations that they needed. But ultimately, they had to give over the energy source to the government. Official reports say that once the Japanese government got the energy source, they couldn't make it work for a bomb. All of their top scientists tried, including Hojo, but no one could make it work." Fury went on, as Vincent sat down in the nearest chair and continued to listen.  
  
"Now what I'm about to tell you is strictly classified, and I'm not even sure if I should tell you, but I am. The reason why the energy source wasn't working for the Japanese was because they needed you to use it. Your parents made it DNA specific for you. They were hoping that by the time you were old enough that the war would be over and it wouldn't matter. Luckily, they were right, and the war ended about six months later. But Hojo found out about this, and in a fit of rage shot your parents. Hojo was the one responsible for your parent's death." Fury said, as Vincent had look of shock and horror on his face. "Then that left you with Hojo. Hojo tried his best to get you to use that energy source, but somehow you didn't budge. Hojo was mad, but he was a brilliant biologist. So since his experiment with the energy source failed, he took a sample of DNA that he combined from various other resources and injected it into your system. The end result is Chaos." Fury continued to explain, as Vincent could only nod.  
  
"Before your parents died, they sent the US government the energy source that they were working on. As soon as the Japanese found out they couldn't use it, they discarded it. And they also sent this to us, hoping that we could get this to you, once you were old enough. I think you are now." Fury said, holding up a videotape, and sliding it into a slot by the large screen. As it started, Vincent moved closer to the screen to get a better view. And once the tape began, his parents appeared on the screen, looking to the camera as if they were looking to Vincent himself.  
  
"Vincent, if you're watching this, then we've succeeded in making sure that you don't get used as a weapon. We're both so very sorry that we wont get to see you without a doubt, group up to be a fine man. There are so many things we could tell you and that we want to tell you, but the main one is that we love you very much. Never forget that. We've given the energy source to the United States, and we hope that they'll give it to you when you're old enough. Make sure that it's used as a peaceful alternative than what it was created for. It's the only thing other than our love that we can give to you, so think of it as not only our legacy, but also our inheritance to you. We love you so very much. Take care." Vincent's parents finished as Vincent looked to them rapidly look over off screen, and then several gunshots ring out, and then the tape ending abruptly.  
  
Nick Fury looked to Vincent as the tape ended, as Vincent looked back to him. "You're parents were good people, son. I want you to know that the United States doesn't think of them as traitors. In fact, if you live up to your heritage and abilities, you can make them and yourself heroes. To be honest, Vincent, I'm kind of excited to see what you really can do. Especially since we're given you the energy source." Fury said as he walked over to the wall, Vincent following, and opened up a compartment, letting a large tray slide out, with several multicolored orbs each in grooves on the tray slide out in front of Vincent. "They're all yours, Vincent. We've just referred to them as an energy source, but your parent's notes referred to them as something called "Materia"." Nick Fury said, as Vincent slowly picked one up, looking to it. And even just as he held it, he could feel something unlock with him, as if the Materia was telling him how to use it.  
  
"There's another thing, Vincent. In your parent's notes, they said alone Materia could not be used. You needed to channel it into something to use it effectively. What they had in mind was a weapon of some kind, namely a sword or something like that." Fury explained as he walked past the Materia and opened up another compartment on the wall, letting another tray slide out, this time a large rifle coming with it. "We thought a sword would be a little old fashioned, so we had our best scientists create this rifle for you. They called it "Death Penalty"." Fury continued to explain as Vincent carefully picked up the rifle and held it in his hands. It was heavy, but not heavy enough to where he couldn't hold it. In fact, it almost fit him like a glove in his hands. Along the sides, Vincent could see grooves for the Materia, much like the ones in the tray. Fury looked to him, and smirked a little bit.  
  
"It's all yours kid. Now the big question is, what are you going to do with it?" Fury asked with the same smirk, as Vincent looked to him. "I think I know a place where I can be useful." Vincent said, and Fury nodded, motioning for Vincent to follow. And a few hours later, Vincent was walking up the driveway to the Xavier institute, much like he had done when he first arrived here. Death Penalty was strapped to his back, as he walked up the front steps, and rang the doorbell, content to wait until someone answered the door. And within a few moments, Ororo answered the door, a smile on her face. "Vincent! You're alright." She exclaimed as he moved in for a embrace. "I am alright, Miss Munroe. But, if it's all right with all of you, I'd like to start my training here. I have a legacy to uphold." Vincent said, as Ororo nodded, and brought him inside. 


	6. Wine And Roses

Wine and Roses  
  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: My thanks go out to everyone about the positive reviews I've been getting. I've already thought of a way to wrap this story up, but that won't be for many chapters yet to come. And Hojo will be a part of the ending. And maybe a few of the other FF7 characters too. ^_^ You all know the usual stuff. Get to reading!  
  
Several months have passed by since Vincent returned to the Xavier Institute. With Professor Xavier's generous help, Vincent had become a full time student at the academy, and received a whole new wardrobe of clothes, though they mostly remained red and black due to Vincent's personal tastes. He also was given several training uniforms that would stretch with him, as he might need to change to Chaos and not have his clothes be destroyed again.  
  
Vincent quickly became friends with most of the other students at the academy, save for a few. Vincent didn't consider himself a troublemaker, but trouble seemed to find him, and Logan and Scott did not approve of him. All of the girls did though, and with the Halloween school dance coming up, a day didn't go by where he didn't receive an offer to join someone at the dance. Luckily, the Danger Room was a place of solace for him, and when he wasn't at school, he was in the Danger Room, running through one program after another.  
  
Finishing up with the latest program, Vincent walked out of the Danger Room, looking back to images of three Sentinels falling to pieces before fading away from existence. Smirking to himself, he grabs a towel, and proceeded to head back to his room. "Better luck next time, guys." He says to the Sentinels before leaving the Danger Room hallway completely. Walking up to the second floor, his eyes widened slightly as he saw Emma Frost standing at his doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked over to him, her china blue eyes looking to him.  
  
"I imagine you going to the dance, tonight?" She questioned as he nodded slightly to her. "Kitty talked me into going. And she was kind enough to provide me with a costume. I'm going as Neo from The Matrix." Vincent said, as a small smirk appeared on Emma's lips. "Oh, won't that be enchanting? Hordes of girls clawing at you all night to try and get you back to their room by the end of the night. They're quite taken with you, you know." She stated simply, as he nodded again.  
  
"I know they are. It's like I can almost smell the pheromones coming off of them. I imagine Chaos isn't pleased." Vincent stated as he continued on after that. "I like them all as friends, but I don't think it's wise for me to go any further than that with them." Vincent finished, as the smirk grew on Emma's lips. She slyly walked over to him, and gently ran her finger along the jaw line of Vincent's chin. "So you're saying that you're free tonight? Good, You're going to take me out." Emma stated as if it were fact, as Vincent just looked to her. "What about the dance?" Vincent asked as Emma smiled and leaned closer to him, her cool breath practically brushing up against his sweating skin. "You and I both know you don't want to go. And I advise you not to disappoint me." She spoke, as venom could be dripping off the last part of that statement.  
  
Vincent could only nod at this, and could feel that it was getting hotter in the room than he tended to like it. "Meet you downstairs at eight?" Vincent asked as Emma nodded and walked away from him, a little extra sway of her hip in her step. Shaking his head lightly, Vincent walked into his room as he shut the door behind him, and passed by his dresser mirror. As he walked by, a transparent image of Chaos appeared on the mirror. "You're actually going out with her?" Chaos questioned incredulously, as Vincent looked to him and in reality, himself. "Why not? She's attractive and I'd probably have a better time with her, than any of the other girls here. All that squealing was starting to get to me. And since we're on the subject, why do you care?" Vincent asked, as Chaos growled softly. "She makes even my blood run cold. There's something about her that I don't like." Chaos stated as Vincent nodded.  
  
"Duly noted. You don't like her, and that's fine. But you're not the one going out with her, I am. Deal with it." Vincent finished simply in a tone that meant he would brook no argument. Chaos shook his head and sighed, then disappeared from the mirror. Vincent also breathed in a sigh of relief as he moved to strip out of remaining clothes and head into his bathroom to get washed off from the training exercise. Something old him that this was going to be no ordinary night.  
  
Hours passed, and Vincent emerged from his room and headed downstairs into the lobby. Clad in a black suit, with a stark bold red tie in the center, his hair was slicked back, save for the bangs that always seemed to stick out no matter what he did with them. He lightly carried Death Penalty over his shoulder with one hand, as he moved into the foyer. He looked up to see Emma at the top of the stairs, smiling down to him, as Vincent felt his jaw drop slightly. She was clad in a simple white spaghetti strip dress, with ample cleavage showing from it, and a white wrap along her arms. Her corn silk blonde hair was moved over in to a stylish sweep, as the rest moved into a French braid down her back. She took her time coming down the stairs and to him, as she lightly took her hand and let Vincent's jaw come back up. "You're letting flies in. Shall we go?" Emma asked with a soft yet seductive tone.  
  
Vincent could only look at her and nod. "You look fantastic, Emma. Of course you would probably say you always do." He says with a slight smile, as Emma gave him one in return, and walked out the door with him. Vincent walked with her over to the garage, and opened the door, looking over the wide array of vehicles to choose from. "I think we should take Logan's motorcycle." Vincent said with a small smile as Emma looked at him as if he was crazy. "That's Logan's motorcycle. He cherishes it more than life itself. You're going to hear about it tomorrow morning." Emma stated as Vincent nodded, looking over the bike, and then getting on. He gently slid Death Penalty into a convenient holder, as he looked over to her. "Yes, I have no doubt that I will hear about it tomorrow. And to ride such a fine piece machinery such as this one is worth any price. Coming?" He questioned with a smirk, as Emma nodded with a grin and jumped on behind him. Starting it up, Vincent sped out of the garage and down the long driveway from the institute. As they rode through town, they both looked to the school on their right. Emma looked to him, lightly running her hands along his chest. "Are you sure you don't want to make an appearance?" She questioned as Vincent looked back to her.  
  
"Not entirely. Besides, I'm already spoken for at the moment." Vincent responded as Emma smiled and looked through the gymnasium's window. There she could clearly see a group of the X-Girl's waiting by the door for Vincent to come through. Using her powers, Emma gently opened up a mind link with all of them. ~I'm sorry to bother you all, but I felt it necessary to inform you that Vincent will be occupied for the night with me. But don't worry, I'll be sure to have him back early............tomorrow morning~ Emma psionicly said with a smile, as the green light turned on, and Vincent continued into town. It wasn't a long drive into the city, especially at the speeds Vincent was going, but Emma thought it was surely taking long enough. And as they were pulling into Manhattan, Vincent looked back to her. "So where exactly are we going?" Vincent asked As Emma leaned in closer to him. "A new club opened up near Central Park. It's called the Hellfire Club. Sounds rather prestigious." She explained as Vincent nodded, admitting that she had a point.  
  
As the two of them pulled up to the valet, the pair got off as Vincent removed Death Penalty from the holster. He tossed the keys to the Valet as the valet got on, and proceeded to drive off with the bike. Emma moved over to him and lightly slipped her arm into his as the two of them walked into the door. As they approached, the doorman looked to her. "Miss Frost, it's a pleasure to see you again. Please, come in." The doorman said as Emma nodded regally. "Thank you, Henry." Emma said almost in a higher than thou attitude, as Vincent looked to her. "You two know each other?" Vincent asked as Emma looked to him. "You'll have to understand something, Vincent. My parents have been friends with the owners of the club since as far as I can remember. My family commands a great deal of respect here with them." Emma explained as they passed the check-in station. The concierge looked to Vincent, and cleared his voice. "Excuse me sir, but you can't bring that rifle in here. You'll have to leave it here." The Concierge said as Vincent looked to Emma, then walked over to him.  
  
Vincent looked at him for a moment, and then lightly handed over Death Penalty to him. But Vincent stared deeply into the man's eyes, as he narrowed his own slightly. "That is very precious to me. Touch it in a way I don't approve of, I make your life a living hell by the end of the night." Vincent said darkly, as the attendant nodded and went off into the back with it. Emma smiled and gently took his arm and led him into the main room. "Come on, Vincent. You can stand to be separated from your gun for just a little while." Emma gently chided as he nodded slightly and walked with her into the main room. The décor was straight out of the Victorian age, several men and women dressed in old Elizabethan style clothing, powdered wigs and all. Vincent looked to Emma, an eyebrow gently raised. "This is the common fashion here?" He asked as she looked back to him. "For some of the traditionalists, yes. But I don't approve of it. Give me white leather and a whip any day." She gently purred into Vincent's ear as he looked to her. She gently kissed his cheek and walked with him out into the dance floor. The two of them quickly joined in with a fast waltz as they moved with the rest of the people on the dance floor. And as they danced hand in hand, a man in the common Victorian dress around the room, looked on to Emma from above. He quickly shifted his black ponytail, as he looked to a blonde haired man in the same dress as him. "Pierce, our White Queen has arrived. Get the master bedroom ready." The black haired man said, Pierce nodding. "As you wish, Sebastian." Pierce said, as he quickly walked off.  
  
As the waltz ended, Emma and Vincent joined the others in clapping for the end of the song, and the orchestra's performance. The rest of the people moved off the dance floor, as Vincent looked to Emma. "It seems we have the floor. Care to try something a little more.........robust?" Vincent asked as Emma nodded and smiled, as Vincent moved over to the orchestra. After speaking with the conductor for a slight amount of time, Vincent moved back over to Emma. And as they assumed a ready position on the floor, the Orchestra began to play a lively Spanish mariachi tune. The two of them quickly embraced, and began to move with the music, as if it was just them on the floor, and the rest of the world didn't exist. The rest of the crowd could only watch with awe as they danced, the two of them seeming to fit together like a hand to a glove. And as the orchestra stopped with a strong finish, Vincent found himself holding Emma close, her right leg in his right arm and her hands along the sides of his face. Everyone in the audience stood and clapped, as both Vincent and Emma looked to themselves and then the audience, and composed themselves, with a slight blush in their cheeks.  
  
And as they bowed, a man's clapping could be heard over all of them. "Bravo! That was truly a performance worthy of the Hellfire Club, and from our White Queen!" Sebastian Shaw stated from the top of the stairwell, as Vincent looked to Emma with a raised eyebrow. She looked back to him, and could only lower her eyes. Vincent turned back to Sebastian at the top of the stairs. He was beginning to wonder what kind of club this actually was. "Now, as you all know, this is truly a special night. Tonight is the night our White Queen fills her spot in our coveted inner circle! Guards, escort Miss Frost to my chambers." Sebastian continued on then finished, as Vincent could see guards approaching the two of them, and as he looked to the audience, to see everyone still cheering them on. He immediately looked back to Emma. "What's going on, Emma?" He asked as Emma looked to him. "Please don't ask, Vincent. I'll be back down soon." Emma simply stated, as she willingly went with the guards. And as they escorted her up to Sebastian, one of the other guards walked up to Vincent. "Don't feel bad, mate. It's nothing you did, they're just going to have some fun with her." The guard said as Vincent looked to him, his eyes narrowing, not liking where this was headed.  
  
"What do you mean?" Vincent asked as he could see the guard smile. "It's the right of entering the Inner Circle. The gents get to have first stabs at the females, if you know what I mean. After all, what kind of club do you think this is?" The guard said with a friendly nudge to the Vincent's ribs, as a dawning realization appeared on Vincent's face. "Oh no! Emma!" He called out to her, but saw that she had already been taken upstairs. "There's nothing you can do. It's their right." The guard said, as Vincent looked to him. "Not if I have anything to say about it." Vincent said darkly as he grabbed the guard, and moved to toss him out the nearest window, hearing the guard scream all the way down. Vincent moved as fast as he could back to the check in stand, pushed himself past the guard, and grabbed Death Penalty from the closet. And as he leapt back into the room from the check in stand, he saw three guards running towards him. Vincent quickly spun his gun around a few times, and then holstered it, as he was encased in a green light. There was a bright flash, as the guards coming towards him were encased in solid Ice. Vincent ran past them as he dashed up the stairs heading for the master bedroom. He found it at the end of the hall, and quickly tried to get in, but found the door locked. Vincent moved to unholster Death Penalty quickly, and blow the lock, but quickly saw that it was laced with steel on the inside.  
  
And as the shot rang out, Sebastian, Pierce, and another man with fiery orange hair looked back to the door. The orange haired man looked back to Sebastian. "Are you sure no one can get in, Shaw?" The man said as Sebastian looked to him. "Calm yourself, Leland. It will affect your performance." Sebastian said with a cruel smirk as Leland gave him the same grin. The three of them turned back to Emma, who was now strapped down to the bed. She struggled against the ties, as she looked to the three of them. "Don't worry, my dear. It won't hurt at all. I give you my word that you'll love every inch of this." Sebastian said with a cruel laugh, just loud enough for Vincent to hear outside. Vincent growled, and tried to pry the lock off himself, as he started to feel despair and fury rage over his body, as a crimson glow filled his eyes and his hands grabbed onto the door. And inside the bedroom, the three men approached the bed, some of them removing various pieces of clothing, and mainly their belts, until a bestial roar could be heard outside. And the next moment, all of them turned back to see the door being ripped off the hinges, and tossed back into the hallway. And there stood Chaos, breathing hard and his fangs and clawed bared, a red aura surrounding his body.  
  
"I think you all are about to rape Valentine's woman. I simply can't allow that." Chaos said, as he closed his eyes. "They are all yours, Valentine." Chaos said simply, and looked back to Sebastian, Pierce and Leland before starting to fade away. "I would start praying to whatever deity you worship that he has mercy on you all." Chaos said with a loud laugh, before fading back to Vincent, his clothes torn slightly and Death Penalty in his hands. With a loud yell, Vincent leapt into the air, spun around slightly, and took aim with Death Penalty towards Pierce. A loud boom shook the room, causing china to fall off the drawer and break, as Vincent unloaded a shot at Pierce, seeing it tear into his right arm, almost ripping it off. As Pierce screamed and fell back clutching his arm as it bled, Leland came up from behind him and got him in a vicious bear hug. "You don't know who you're dealing with, boy." Leland growled as Vincent moved his head back to knock into Leland's for a ferocious head butt. And as Leland dropped him, Vincent dropped to the ground, sweeping Leland's legs out from under him. Vincent stood up quickly leveled Death Penalty to Leland's forehead. "The same goes for you too, sir." Vincent said darkly, before firing a shot right into Leland's skull.  
  
Vincent turned around to see Shaw almost waiting for him to finish, as he spoke. "I can see why Emma came with you. It's unfortunate that you won't be able defeat me as easily. Come test your fate." Sebastian beckoned to him as Vincent growled again, leaping into the air and landing an earth- shattering kick to the side of Shaw's head. Once he landed, Vincent quickly drove the butt end of Death Penalty into Shaw's chest, and as Shaw doubled over, Vincent drove his rifle down to the back of Shaw's skull. But Vincent looked in horror as Shaw got back up and smiled to him. "I absorb physical and kinetic energy and send it right back. Have some of that kick you gave me!" He yelled as Shaw landed a right cross across Vincent's chin, then spun around gave Vincent a back hand strike, knocking him into the wall. Shaw gently strode over to Vincent on the floor, kneeling down next to him. "You should have done your homework first. I'm going to have my fun with Emma now, and I'm going to make you watch." But Shaw quickly gasped in pain, as a clawed hand shot up and grabbed Shaw by his own testicles. Vincent opened his eyes, crimson fury blazing within them, as he slowly changed back to Chaos, making Shaw feel ever second. Chaos stood over Sebastian, his grip tightening on Shaw's manhood. "You made two fatal mistakes. You pissed me off, and you pissed Vincent off. Both of which aren't forgivable."  
  
Chaos reached out and grabbed Shaw by the throat with his other clawed hand, as a reddish light began to glow from Chaos's hands. "Give Satan my regards in hell!" Chaos yelled, before releasing an energy blast, removing Shaw's head and genitals from his body. Dropping whatever he was still holding, he turned back to Emma, and quickly swiped at her ties, releasing her from the bed. Chaos looked to her, and gently spoke. "Treat him well. He deserves it." Chaos said simply, before fading away and letting Vincent have control again. Vincent looked to her, and Emma looked to him, and the two of them quickly embraced each other, in a deep and passionate kiss. And when the kiss ended, he looked into Emma's eyes. "Let's go home. I'm sick of this place." He says with a light smile, as Emma nodded taking his hand, and starting to walk out of the room. But the two of them looked to Pierce, still lying in a pool of his own blood from his arm, alive. "What should I do with him?" Vincent asked, as Emma looked to him. "You've done enough for the evening. Allow me, darling." Emma said with a cruel smirk, as she looked to Pierce. A pinkish glow started to emanate from his body, as she entered Pierce's mind, and completely tore it apart. As they walked out of the room, Pierce was left screaming like a mad man as sirens could be heard off in the distance.  
  
The two of them made their way back to the mansion, and as they pulled up, Logan was standing in front of the garage, his arms crossed with a not so happy look on his face. Emma and Vincent got off together, and looked to him. "Do I even want to know why you're covered in blood, and you're wearing bondage ties?" Logan asked, regarding the two of them. Vincent moved to Logan, handed him the keys to his bike, and looked to him. "Lets just say we were at a wild party tonight. And it's probably best if you don't watch the news tomorrow." Vincent said with a slight smile, as Vincent moved back into the house, Emma quickly joining him. The two of them made their way upstairs, and reached the fork in the hall that divided the girls rooms from the boys. Vincent looked to Emma, as she looked back to him. "Thank you for saving me, Vincent. I don't think anybody else here would have come with me." Emma said, as Vincent looked to her. "You mean, you knew that they were going to try and rape you tonight?" Vincent asked, as Emma nodded. "I did. And I couldn't tell anyone else here but you. But I was scared and I didn't want to go through with it. That's why I needed you to come with me." Emma continued to explain as Vincent looked to her.  
  
"So it was all a setup from the start?" Vincent questioned as Emma nodded, but moved in closer and lightly kissed his neck gently. "Yes it was. But aside from the obvious parts, I enjoyed the night. And nothing gets me turned on more than usages of force." She said with a sexy grin, as she took his hand and started to lead him down the hall of girl rooms. Vincent looked to her for a moment, then his eyes widened with what she was implying. "Emma...are you sure?" Vincent questioned as Emma looked back to him. "If I'm going to have sex tonight, it's going to be someone of my choosing. And the White Queen chooses you." Emma said, as she opened the door to her room, and left Vincent at the doorway. A moment later, Emma's dress hit him in the face with gentle force, as Vincent looked to her, whistled slightly, and walked into her room and closing the door behind him.  
  
Meanwhile.........  
  
The Sun gently rose over the nation of Japan, as sunlight gently shone down on the town of Hiroshima. A stray dog gently sniffs along some stray rubble looking for some food, but then begins to bark loudly, sniffing something in the air. Suddenly, a gray tentacle shoots out from the rubble, and grabs the dog around the waist, pulling him into the rubble, and as quickly as the yelping begins, it stops with a deadly silence. 


	7. Out and About

Out and About  
  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: My thanks to everyone that's reviewed my story so far. Emma and Vincent get more personal this time around, and who knows, I might throw in a couple of lemony elements. And of course...there is that threat from Japan. ^_^ As always, the same stuff applies. No need to bore everyone. Now on to the story!  
  
The sun gently rose over the hills of Bayville, as golden light lightly covered the landscape in a blanketing fashion. Birds began to chirp, and the signs of a new day were rapidly becoming evident. And as the sun gently shone down on the Institute, light softly filled all the rooms, causing Emma to roll over and wrap her arms around Vincent's chest, hiding her face in Vincent's back, not wanting to wake up just yet. Vincent gently opened one eye and looked around, looking to the alarm clock, and deciding that it was entirely too early to be up just yet.  
  
Unfortunately, Kitty had other plans...  
  
Kitty came whistling down the hall, still in her pajamas as she stopped at Emma's room and lightly knocked on the door. Not getting an answer, she phased herself through the wooden barrier, and sleepily rubbed her eyes. She gently stubbed her toe on a shoe as she walked over to Emma's bed, letting out a soft protest of pain when she moved to pick up the shoe. She looked to it, a black dress shoe, and thought it was really odd considering Emma's mostly white apparel. Then she looked to the floor to find other clothes thrown everywhere, leading to the bed like a makeshift trail. And then she saw Vincent and Emma sleeping in each other's arms, to which her eyes widened to about the size of dinner plates.  
  
"OH MY GOSH!" Kitty exclaimed, as both Emma and Vincent were immediately awake at that, Vincent leaping out of bed grabbing Death Penalty from the nightstand, and swiftly taking a defensive position looking for any threats. As he looked to Kitty just standing there in front of him, and he in his current state of undress, he quickly ran back behind one of the curtains and hid himself behind one of the drapes. Emma looked to all of this, and gently wrapped herself up in one of the sheets on her bed. "Kitty, what on Earth is the problem that requires you waking me up like that?" Emma asked softly, knowing that a headache from all of this was going to be inevitable. Kitty looked to her and then to Vincent, who was promptly turning a bright shade of red from embarrassment as he just gently nodded a greeting.  
  
"Well, I came in to see if you were coming down to Breakfast with the others, and like I come in, and I find you and Vincent sleeping together." Kitty said as a big huge grin appeared on her face. "Wait! That means that you and Vincent had sex last night! I thought Scott and Jean were the only ones. The usually go into the boathouse to do it, but now other people are doing it too! This is so cool!" Kitty exclaimed as she rushed over to Emma in her bed. "You got to tell me details now! I want to know like everything!" Kitty pleaded as Emma gently raised a eyebrow to her as she moved to psychically bring her robe over to her. "Kitty, you would most assuredly be the last person I tell about any of my pleasures, with your reputation as the school gossip. So you won't be getting any details from...Wait...Scott and Jean in the boathouse?" Emma questioned with a small smile as Kitty nodded. "Bobby has pictures. Future blackmail opportunities." Kitty confirmed as Emma gave out a small laugh. "We'll talk later." Emma said simply as then everybody in the room turned to see several other people, including Logan and Ororo come bursting in, some with mutant powers already going in case of a threat.  
  
And then all of then looked to Kitty and then Emma, and then Vincent still back behind the curtain, looking to all of them wondering if he should just shoot himself now, and save him the trouble of the backlash of everybody finding out what happened. Storm was the first one to speak up. "What is going on here?" She gently asked, as Kitty looked to her. "I came in to wake Emma up for Breakfast, and then found her and Vincent sleeping together, and then that's when you all came in." Kitty explained rationally, as Vincent just gently turned and banged his head gently on the wall. Emma looked to him and smiled, the embarrassment was high in his mind, but what happened last night was still in his mind, in several good ways. She hadn't given him enough credit, he had plenty of imagination. Storm gently placed it all together, as she looked to everyone. "All everyone, go back downstairs for Breakfast. Nothing to see here." Storm gently commanded as everyone turned to look and nod, and then moved to follow Storm out of Emma's bedroom. Kitty looked to Emma and Vincent, winking slightly, before phasing out of the room completely and heading downstairs as well. Vincent sighed and looked to Emma, coming back out from behind the curtain. "Well then, now that all of Western Civilization knows about last night, I think it's time for breakfast." He said, trying to regain some composure on the situation. Looking around, he then looked back to Emma. "Have you seen my pants?" Vincent questioned slightly.  
  
About a half an hour later, both Emma and Vincent came down to join everyone for Breakfast as most of the students looked to the two of them and applauded. But a quick glare from Logan shut them up quickly, and for once, Vincent was thankful to have Logan step in on a situation. Emma lowered her head, but was still smirking, as Vincent quickly grabbed a plate of food, and moved to the back of the room to avoid being seen much. Emma looked to him and smiled. ~Didn't you enjoy yourself last night, Vincent? ~ Emma questioned psychically from across the room as Vincent looked to her. ~You know I did. But now everyone knows. I'd like to believe that there are some aspects of my life that aren't open for viewing. ~ Vincent responded as Jean looked between the two of them. Jean then focused on Emma and opened up a mental link. ~So it's true then? ~Jean asked Emma as she looked back to Jean. ~Very much so. Several times in fact. But I applaud you and Scott about the boathouse location. ~ Emma shot back at Jean, which caused Jean to turn a furious shade of pink as Scott looked to them all from his bowl of Wheaties. "What?" He questioned simply, as Emma was holding back a laugh, and Jean was hiding her face gently.  
  
As everyone exited the table from Breakfast, Emma pulled Vincent aside, lightly wrapping her arms around his waist. "Don't tell me you're going into the Danger Room and running through another program." Emma said as she put on a mock out as Vincent looked to her. "I guess I'm not now. What did you have in mind?" Vincent asked as Emma looked to him with a devilish smirk. "You don't want to be here for our times, fine." She stated as she turned to write something down on a sheet of paper and then hand it to him as she was finished writing. "Meet me at this address tonight. I'll make it worth your while." She said with a smile and quick kiss to Vincent's lips as she released him to Vincent just looking to her, and then the address that she had left in his hands. He truly wondered what she had in store for him as he just shook his head and proceeded to head back to his room. Ashe closed the door to his room when he entered, Chaos immediately appeared in the mirror. "Do you have any idea how amazingly sickening last night was to me?" Chaos asked as Vincent sighed, looking to him. "No, but I get the feeling that you're going to tell me anyways." Vincent responded wearily as he sat down on his bed.  
  
"Shut Up, Valentine. We're sharing that body of yours, and for me to have to go through that was uncalled for. Mortals......disgusting." Chaos sighed, an obvious look of disgust on his features. Vincent smirked as he looked to the mirror. "Well then you may want to find something else to occupy your time than think about that, because from what it looks like it's going to happen again tonight." Vincent said, holding up the slip of paper that Emma had given him. "Oh good. Another night with the she-cat from hell itself. How wonderful. And here I thought you were a warrior." Chaos stated as Vincent looked back to him angrily. "And here I thought I was trying to be like everyone else instead of the freak that Hojo turned me into. It sucks that you're stuck with me, and I sympathize, but right now I'm interested in finding my own life, and not being the weapon that I was supposedly designed to be." Vincent responded as he looked to himself next to Chaos's reflection in the mirror. "And look at me, I'm busy talking to myself in a mirror. How messed up is that?" Vincent questioned to himself as Chaos sighed gently shaking his head. "Then I'm going to tell you about something I felt last night while you and Emma were busy mating. Something is coming. Something big. And you need to be ready for it." Chaos warned as Vincent looked to him.  
  
"Any more details?" Vincent asked as Chaos shook his head. "None, other than what I felt. I just know what I felt. It was bad." Chaos stated simply as Vincent nodded. "Well, since I'm going out tonight maybe I can find out something. A report on the news, something." Vincent stated as Chaos nodded, then slowly disappeared from the mirror, as his eyes flashed crimson. Seeing as how he would have to meet Emma soon, he moved to grab his jacket and head out of his room. Heading into town, he looked to the address that Emma had given him, and followed it all the way to show up at the fanciest hotel in Bayville, the Crown Plaza. Vincent whistled slightly as he looked up to the floors of the hotel as he walked in the front door. He moved up to the reception desk as the front desk agent smiled to him. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Emma Frost." Vincent said softly, as the front desk agent hastily nodded and pointed to the elevator at the end of the hall. "She's in the Penthouse Suite. Top floor, can't miss it." The agent informed Vincent as he nodded slightly, moving over to the elevator. Getting in as soon as it came down, Vincent pressed the button for the top floor and waited patiently as it slowly rose to the top floor. As soon as the door opened, Vincent stepped out and walked to the only other door on the floor, where he saw a note waiting for him on the door.  
  
Vincent removed the note from the door as he read it. "Vincent....I hope you're ready for me. Love, Emma." Vincent read aloud, as he moved to walk into the suite as he closed the door behind him, locking it. He looked around to see a clear trail of white rose petals leading him into the bathroom area. Vincent had to smirk at this; Emma had used her resources to set this up for the two of them. Removing his jacket from his body, he moved into the bathroom and looked to see no lights at all on in the room, but just soft candlelight and a full tub of water waiting for him in a tub clearly made for two people. He walked into the bathroom a little further, seeing that a stereo was playing in the background and soft classical music was coming from it, the same kind that they had waltzed to the previous night. Vincent let out a soft laugh, and was too busy to notice Emma leaning on the entrance to the bathroom, wearing nothing but a short white silk robe. Vincent turned around to look to her and gasped slightly, as she smiled and walked over to him. She practically tore the shirt from his body, and hastily removed the pants that were on his legs. Taking off the boxers that he was wearing, she gently pushed him into the tub, and made him face her as she looked to him.  
  
Very slowly, she removed the silk tie to her robe, letting it fall onto the floor with hapless care. She gently turned away from him as slowly exposed one shoulder, and then the other, then slowly turned back to face Vincent. She let the robe fall all the way down to the ground, standing there nude in front of him. She gently moved into the tub, and sided up next to him, reaching for a bottle of the oils and the suds, pouring them into the tub, as Vincent looked to her. "Emma, I'm flattered. I don't deserve any of this. You shouldn't have gone to all the trouble." Vincent said with a coy smile, as Emma smirked looking to him. "You have to understand something, Vincent, darling. Those that cross me are sure never to cross me again. But those that please me never regret it for the rest of their life. And you please me in more ways than you could know. Thus, you deserve everything." Emma responded with a smile, lightly taking his hands into hers, after she was done with the oils, and lightly guiding his hands with hers along the curves of her body, moving over her supple breasts lightly. Emma gasped slightly as she felt his touch on her flawless ivory skin as his hazel eyes looked to her chine blue orbs. "I already have everything I need in you." Vincent said with a soft smile as his lips met with hers, and they did not leave that place for quite some time.  
  
Meanwhile....  
  
The shipping frigate, Yokozuna, sat silently in Tokyo's port. Several workers were busy removing things from the docks and putting it on the boat to be shipped over to the United States. One of the crew hands thankfully dropped his load onto the floor of the cargo hold from his arms. Reaching up to wipe the sweat from his brow, he looked to the very back of the cargo compartment to see a stray dog looking back to him, cowering in a corner. He cautiously moved towards the dog, the dog trying to back up more as he approached, but not finding anywhere else to go. Foam started to form on the dog's lips as he cautiously barked at the man approaching it.  
  
But still, the worker approached the dog, and picked it up in his arms, gently petting it. But as quickly as he did, a scream rang out in the cargo hold as a gray tentacle shot out of the dog's mouth and wrapped around the man's arm. Another tentacle shot out again, this time filling the worker's mouth, cutting off his screaming ability, and entering him from the outside. As soon as that was done, the dog dropped to the ground lifeless, as a red glow formed around the worker's eyes, as he moved back to above the ship, almost if in a trance. 


	8. The Oncoming Storm

The Oncoming Storm  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed, especially Deathblade Prime, and Mantichorus. I have seen The Thing recently, and whither or not it's Hojo or Jenova is still a surprise. But I have said that Hojo will be in the ending, and I was planning on making this a ten chapter story. (Hint) As always, please read and review, and know that I'm making no money off of this at all.  
  
A month had passed since the Yokozuna had landed on the western seaboard. Slowly, the thing waited in its host body, directing him where to go since coming into America. Valentine's stench was strong, and he was following that in a carnal instinct of finding Vincent. His search had lead him across country, apparently Valentine had done some traveling since being found and released. He would have met the intruders personally, but he was still just a pile of goop at that point. Indeed, he needed the extra time to pull himself back together from that bomb blast.  
  
He could still remember the day that the atomic bomb had hit Hiroshima. He had just injected himself was the same solution Valentine was injected with. And although the bomb had de-evolved him to a state of proto-plasma, he was still alive. Oh yes, it had taken him fifty long years to even be able to form an appendage again, but he had nothing else on his mind but revenge. Retribution for letting the greatest scientific mind on the planet be reduced to this unholy state. He was going to make the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, and Vincent ruined it.  
  
He watched when the relief teams found Vincent still sleeping in his hibernation stasis, and take him off to America. His hated boiled over to the point where he focused on nothing but getting revenge on Vincent. His parents were troublesome when they were alive, but he had dealt with them, just like how he would deal with Vincent. But a simple gunshot to the head wouldn't satisfy his thirst for blood, no, he had something much more devilish in store. And so he had gotten onto the next boat to America, just as soon as he could start moving again. His travels eventually found him in New York, at the wreckage of a nightclub in Manhattan. The dockworker picked up the sign, reading the title of 'Hellfire Club' carved in the wood. He tossed the sign aside, flinging it into a window not caring that it crashed behind him.  
  
His gaze went to his own form in one of the shards of glass. He looked nothing like he used, especially in this body. Running a hand through his hair, he gently moved his fingers through it, causing the brown strands of hair to turn obsidian black. He removed the hat from his head; the dust stained on the brim was not fit for a man of his caliber. Seeing that the window that he broke lead into a men's clothing store, he walked into the store, and started to rummage through the suits. Americans had fine taste in clothes, he had to give them that. A nice wool suit would fit him just fine, and then he could get back to going after Valentine. He eventually found a suit that he liked, a stark white suit with a bold black tie down the center. Slipping into one of the changing rooms, he came out again shortly wearing the suit. Looking over himself in the full-length mirror, he looked to his side to find a pair of eyeglasses left on the counter. Apparently the owner had left them here to find tomorrow. Too bad for him. Picking them up, he gently slid them onto his ear and over his eyes.  
  
"A definite improvement, indeed." He said with a small laugh, as he moved back out of the store and back out into the street. The store next door was selling televisions as he moved past it, the news was currently on. He stopped for a moment, and listened to the news broadcast even if just a moment. "Our special news report tonight focuses on the eclectic Xavier Institute in Bayville. The town of Bayville has had several reports about strange and weird incidences from around this school. The headmaster of the Xavier Institute for the Gifted, Charles Xavier, is joining us tonight live via satellite." The new anchor announced, as the camera cut to an image of Professor Xavier. The dockworker looked to this, and smirked, then moved back out to the street and hailed a cab. The nearest cab pulled out and up in front of him, as he got into the back seat. "Where to, Mac?" The cabbie asked, looking to the back seat. The man looked back to him and smiled. "The Xavier Institute in Bayville, please."  
  
Within a few hours, the cab pulled up in front of the Institute, it slowly screeching to a halt. The cabbie looked back to the man in the back, and spoke again. "Alright, that'll be two hundred and thirty four dollars, and forty cents." The cabbie announced as the man moved to remove his wallet. "It seems that I do not have enough. You'll have to die." The man says suddenly, and a gray appendage shoots from seemingly out of nowhere, injecting a barb into the cabbie's neck. His veins gently popped out of his neck, oozing out pus that slid down his neck as the cab driver convulsed and fell into a fitful seizure. The man smiled, retracting the appendage as he stepped out of the cab, and up the small distance of driveway, and then up the steps to the Mansion's front door. Lightly knocking, he waited for a few moments, as he eventually heard someone come to the door. Jean gently opened the door, looking to the man. "Hello. Can I help you?" She asked politely as the man nodded with a thin smile. "I certainly hope you can, child. I'm looking for Vincent Valentine. Is he here?" He asks, as jean shakes her head. "He's out for the afternoon, but he should be back in time for dinner. Would you like to come in and wait?" She asked, as the man nodded. "Thank you, I believe I will." He says, stepping in once Jean steps to the side. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name, Mister..." Jean began as the man turned back to her. "Hojo. Nobunga Hojo."  
  
Jean nodded, though she was trying to remember where she had heard that name before. She was almost positive she had, but with their ever- increasing number of people that hate them, it was getting hard to keep track. But he said he was looking for Vincent, and then it hit on her. "Wait a minute! Your...." Jean begins, but couldn't finish as the same gray barbed tentacle slid out from his suit and gently pierced her neck. As she slumped to the floor, Hojo smiled and nodded. "Yes, I'm your new god." Hojo said just before turning around to find the X-men standing in the entrance to the parlor, Wolverine going out to the front of the group, claws already out and ready to attack. "Not if we have anything to say about it, bub." Logan rumbled, just before leaping into the air claws first at Hojo.  
  
Meanwhile, in the city....  
  
"How about this one?" Emma offered as Vincent looked to it. "Looks a little out of date, don't you think?" He asks, as he looks to the picture. Vincent was currently looking over office furniture for Emma's office, once they found out that she was going to be taking over Frost Enterprises. Vincent had offered to help her with her office, but he was starting to regret that decision over the last seven of the ten hours they had been in the coffee house. He wanted to help Emma; he was sincere about that, but maybe not to this degree. Vincent mused that someone like Kitty or Ororo could help her more than he could. They were at least knowledgeable about this kind of thing. But, he assumed it was because they were lovers that he was the one helping her.  
  
"You're right, it looks like it should belong in a psychiatrist's office." Emma remarked as she moved to sip on her coffee, just before dropping the cup to the ground, staring up at the ceiling. She remained like that for a few moments, and then looked to Vincent. "That was the professor. We have to get back to the Mansion, now." Emma said, as she hastily left some cash for the broken mug and the stain on the floor. Vincent looked to her, wondering what she was talking about. Just content in nodding, Vincent went with her out to the car, and got in on the passenger side as Emma looked to him. "I would recommend that you have Death Penalty fully loaded for this." Emma warned as Vincent nodded, grabbing his rifle from the back seat, and checking to make sure that it was fully loaded. Luckily it was, and he quickly closed the chamber.  
  
Vincent wondered if this was what Chaos was talking to him about. He had mentioned something big coming, and it seemed that the Professor asked for him especially. He looked to the material that lined his rifle as he then looked back to the road ahead. He could see the outline of the month up ahead and it wouldn't be long until they were parked outside. The house wasn't on fire, and it looked all right, save for the cab that was outside. Though he couldn't imagine an enemy that had the potential to hurt everyone showing up in a cab. But that could have merely been a diversion just to throw them off. Either way, his mind was racing and he was trying to prepare himself for the probable battle that was to come. He looked to Emma for a moment as they pulled up in front of the house, as he slowly got out, and looked around briefly. No tell tale signs of damage from outside of the house, so he joined Emma at the front door, and slowly walked in with her.  
  
Everything seemed normal enough on the inside as well, as the moved throughout the rooms. He slowly reached the door to the parlor, and opened it without a sound as he walked in. And there, on the walls of the parlor, were the X-men attached by some sort of green goop that Vincent didn't even want to imagine. He saw the Professor's wheel chair over turned, and he too was on the wall with the others. Other than being on the wall for some reason, they didn't look hurt. Emma quickly joined him inside the parlor, and gently raised a hand to her mouth. "Admiring my work?" A voice questioned as Emma and Vincent looked to a chair sitting by the fireplace. They could see the outline of a man's arm lightly sipping on a cup of tea, as he watched the fireplace. "Since you're going to ask anyways, they're fine for the time being. But, I would recommend getting them to a hospital within the next twelve hours, if you can." The voice continued, putting his teacup down, then standing up and looking to Emma and Vincent. Hojo gave them a small cruel smirk, as Vincent's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Hojo!" Vincent yelled out, before leaping into the air, and leveling Death Penalty for a bead right between Hojo's eyes. Hojo simply crossed his arms and the same gray tentacle slid out from his suit and raced out to stab Vincent right in his exposed left arm. Vincent dropped to the ground in pain, the paralyzing feeling starting to wash over him like a flood, as Emma looked to him and then to Hojo. "Who are you? What have you done to Vincent?" Emma cried out, as Hojo laughed out loud. "Stop asking questions, you idiot. Actually, you might make a good scientist." Hojo said, the gray tentacle slowly started to remove the suit he was wearing from his body.  
  
As the jacket and shirt came off, Emma could see Hojo's chest and arms were a dull grayish black with a slight tint of yellow in the skin. His pants were then removed showing off his legs, but then the tentacle slowly removed those as well, breaking them off like they were a part of a cracker. The tentacle grew out and expanded slightly, as Hojo slowly began to balance on it as if it were a leg in itself. Breathing in slightly, Hojo gave a cruel smirk. "My name is Nobunga Hojo, but you can call me Lifeform. I created the Vincent that you all know, and now you're going to see me destroy him. But first, for matters at hand." He said, just before lunging for Emma.  
  
A/N: Cliffhanger! Until next chapter! 


	9. Wake Me Up Inside

Wake Me Up Inside  
  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: Thank You very much to everyone that's reviewed. Yes there will be at least one more character from Final Fantasy Seven appearing in this story, probably in the next, and also last, chapter. This chapter is mainly about the final confrontation between Vincent and Hojo. The song in this chapter is by Evanescence and thought it would fit in extremely well. As always continue to read and review, and know that I'm not making a dang thing off of this story, except for the Burning Pentagram Shot. That's mine. Read on, and Henshin A Go-Go, baby!  
  
Vincent felt extremely numb.  
  
He felt devoid of all feeling, even more so when he lost control, and Chaos came out and was in charge of his body. It felt like he was floating a in a obsidian pool of water, not having any ability to control where he was going, and the waves crashing against him. Was this his subconscious? He wondered where exactly he was, because the last thing he remembered was Hojo injecting him with something from that tentacle of his. And what about Emma? She was powerful in her own right; her mental powers were up to anyone else's in the mansion. But against Hojo, she wouldn't have a chance and he knew that. It's not that he didn't care, or want to do something; it just felt like he couldn't. He couldn't even yell out or scream, let alone escape this place and fight Hojo again.  
  
Was this what death was like? All this blackness, and no light anywhere for miles. He didn't feel comforted at all, and although he wanted to get up and fight again, he just felt like he couldn't. And as the blackness beat up against him like waves against rocks in the ocean, Vincent thought that the only option that he had left was to succumb to the blackness. He couldn't even see himself in this miasmatic filth that was covering him, and only his hazel eyes gently gave off the only light that he could see the blackness with. There was so much that he had to do still, and Emma, what would happen to her? There was nothing that he could do now, and yet he still felt like there was something he could do. Was this how it was going to end for him? He felt robbed, he felt desperate. He felt angry. And then, just as if it seemed that all hope was lost, Chaos appeared before him, slowly starting to repel the black mist around Vincent with his own crimson aura. Chaos stood there, floating over the ground slightly, with his arms crossed over his chest.  
  
"Look at you. Is this how you want everything to end? How you want us to end? I thought I raised you to be a warrior, not some giving up, fruitless, spineless shell of a boy." Chaos said, growling slightly, reaching forward and picking Vincent up by his shirt in his fist, bringing Vincent close up to his own face. "You want to do something about Hojo? Fine, me too. But we're going to have to work together on this one, because us alone is not enough against a thing like Hojo." Chaos stated, as Vincent tiredly looked up to Chaos. "I....I don't have the strength to do it. He...paralyzed me somehow." Vincent stated slowly, as Chaos growled again, and shook him vigorously. "Don't you dare go to sleep, Vincent. You do, we both die. And I don't know about you, but I still have plans for my life after this little tussle." Chaos roared, as Vincent looked back to him. "How...how are we going to beat him?" Vincent barely managed to get out as Chaos dropped him on the ground. "First thing is to drop that "I'm a freak, pity me" act of yours. Yeah, it sucks what happened to you. But we're stuck together and now we're going to work together. Open your mind to me, Vincent, and let me give you all of my powers." Chaos said, as Vincent managed to nod, and closed his eyes. And soon, Chaos did too, and the same red aura the enveloped the demon soon enveloped Vincent himself.  
  
And as the light faded, both of them looked to each other, Vincent able to move more than he did before. "The poison from Hojo...it's gone." Vincent stated as Chaos nodded. "I'm immune to all poisons. Especially those from Hojo." Chaos said as Vincent nodded. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go." Vincent said, standing tall again, but just before Chaos stopped him. "Wait. I just gave you all of my powers. And you should know that I'm not the only monster that Hojo injected into your system. I just released the other three." Chaos said, slowly turning his head back behind him, then turning his body to match that movement. And then out of the blackness, three more figures appeared; covered in the same orange-reddish aura that Chaos was enveloped in. The first had taken the form of a mighty were wolf, his purple fur covering his body and massive horns erupting from the side of his head, and a fang-lined maw gaping out and open. The next was a massive brute of a creature, at least eight feet tall, and lumbering over all of them. He was muscle bound in every sense of the word, with two gigantic bolts ticking out of his nick, as his emotionless yellow eyes looked to Vincent. And the third looked the most psychotic of all, a white mask covering his face, save for eye slots. His black stringy hair covering his head haphazardly and a giant chainsaw in his hands, already revving up to life and rumbling in his hands.  
  
Vincent looked to this, and then to Chaos, as the three monsters slowly started to walk towards Vincent and slowly disappear into his body, just as soon as they had appeared. And as soon as they were in, Chaos grinned and did the same, entering Vincent's body just as the others had did. Once Chaos was in with the others, Vincent let out a loud roar that shook the blackness away from wherever he was, as a white light slowly appeared, and filled the entire area.  
  
Meanwhile....  
  
Emma looked to Hojo lunging for her as she rapidly tried to push him away with the powers of her mind. But she was too late, as Hojo was on top of her already, and pinning her down on the ground. Hojo looked her over and sniffed lightly. "Valentine's smell is all over you. I don't know what he would be doing with a stuck up bitch like you. I guess I should kill you slowly since you're the closet to him. How does it feel to know that he can't help you now?" Hojo asked, as he laughed maniacally. His tentacle came up above his head, and slowly proceeded to rip open Emma's shirt and tear it off of her. The poisonous barb came out from the end of the tail as it slowly and purposely headed from Emma's heart, wanting to directly administer the toxin into her nervous system.  
  
And that was just before a gunshot rang out, shooting off the barb at the end of Hojo's tail.  
  
Hojo looked to this and screamed out in pain, as he quickly rolled off Emma and onto the ground, trying to ease the pain of the appendage that was just wounded. But in sheer horror, Hojo looked up to see Vincent standing above him, Death Penalty in his hands. Vincent looked back to him, his hazel eyes starting to turn a fantastic blood red, and started to fill with a crimson light. He effortlessly ejected the spent bullet casing from Death Penalty's chamber, and then attached the customized rifle to his back. Hojo slowly managed to stand on the tail of his again, as he looked to Vincent. "How...how did you survive?" Hojo asked, thinking that it was impossible that Valentine survived his poison. Vincent slowly walked over to him, and got right into his face, his obsidian hair growing longer, and reaching down to the small of his back, as his obsidian bangs went down to his eyebrows. Hojo noticed that the skies outside were growing increasingly darkly; a thunderstorm making it's way here. "Don't you know, Hojo? After all, you created me. And you should never create what you can't destroy." Vincent said, just before kicking Hojo in the face, sending him over into one of the many bookcases of the parlor.  
  
How can you see into my eyes  
  
Like open doors  
  
Leading you down into my core  
  
Where I've become so numb  
  
And before Hojo could even get up, Vincent raced over to his body, a bright flash appearing just before Vincent got there. Only Vincent wasn't standing over Hojo, but the Galian Beast was. The small but powerful beast immediately started slashing at Hojo's chest, his claws cutting into Hojo's flesh like a knife. Galian Beast picked up Hojo and tossed him out the window of the parlor throwing him outside. Rain started to heavily pour down on the grounds of the Academy, as Galian Beast wasted no time to attack Hojo again, knocking Hojo into the air with a mighty flash of fire that sent him skywards.  
  
You fill my soul  
  
My spirit is sleeping somewhere cold  
  
Until you find that you direct me  
  
Back Home  
  
And as soon as Hojo was moved into the sky, the Galian Beast leapt into the air, another bright flash of light occurring. Death Gigas appeared over Hojo, pulling back his massive fists back behind his head. With a fine, swift and powerful motion, Death Gigas launched Hojo back down towards the earth, seeing him land face first in the ground, making a small crater. Hojo managed to slowly stand up, to see Death Gigas back on the ground, slowly approaching him. "Vincent! Listen to me! We can cut a deal, can't we? There's so much I can teach you!" Hojo tried to poorly beg for his life, as another bright flash of red light appeared, enveloping Death Gigas. (Wake Me Up) Wake me up inside (Can't wake up) Call my name and save me from the dark Make my blood to run Before I come undone (Save Me) Save me from the nothing I've become  
  
Hellmasker appeared before Hojo this time, his chainsaw already out and edged towards Hojo. With several swings in continuous motions as if it was a sword, Hellmasker started to cut into Hojo with a fine precision. Not enough to kill him just yet, he wanted to make Hojo suffer for every crime he had ever committed. Blood started to pour out from ever pore in Hojo's mangled gray skin. Hellmasker looked to this, and slowly removed his white mask to show Vincent's face, as Vincent tossed away the chainsaw. "He's all yours, Chaos." Vincent said darkly, as the red flash appeared once again, and Chaos stood in Vincent's place.  
  
Now that I know what I'm without You can't just leave me Breathe into me, and make me feel Bring me to life (Chorus)  
  
Chaos roared with a bestial fury as he raced forward in what would be considered a blur by normal eyes. He moved in for a vicious punch across Hojo's face, then grabbed him by the ears and brought his head down to meet his knee. As blood started to gush from Hojo's nose, Chaos could see Hojo starting to revert back to normal. Chaos whipped around and took his tail, wrapping it around Hojo's neck, and driving him into the ground with a thud. And as Chaos released him, Chaos took a couple of steps back, and looked up to the sky, the thunder and rain now very apparent as he smirked. "No, Valentine. He's all yours." Chaos stated, and gradually changed back to Vincent. But as Vincent reappeared, he was different, robed in a floor length blood red cape the came all the way up his mouth. A golden gauntlet appeared over his left arm, vicious claws forming at the end of the fingers. A stark red bandana was wrapped around his head, to give him the only sense of color in his other wise black clothes. But a red "X" design appeared on his shirt crossing over his own chest. Death Penalty was at his side; ready to go whenever its master needed it.  
  
All of this time, I can't believe I couldn't see Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems Got to open my eyes to everything Without thought, without voice, without a soul Bring me to life (Chorus)  
  
Hojo was now completely reverted to his human form, as he sank to his knees from sheer exhaustion. He tiredly looked up to Vincent, clasping his hands together in a sign of mercy. "Please...Valentine, it doesn't have to be this way. With what I could teach you, and what we could do together, we could make this place heaven on Earth." Hojo pleaded as Vincent simply walked over to him, and looked to him for a moment. Vincent then slowly reached down and slowly lifted Hojo to his knees. Hojo looked to him a small smile on his face as he nodded a thank you. But Vincent wasn't smiling at all. His crimson eyes were staring right into Hojo's black beady little ones. "No, Hojo. We're not going to do that. For the gate to tomorrow is not in the light of heaven, but the depths of the darkness. And the name is Desperado, you worthless piece of filth." Vincent stated darkly, as he unholstered Death Penalty as Hojo brought his hands up over his face. But when Hojo uncovered his face when he didn't hear a gunshot, he didn't see Vincent anywhere.  
  
He looked around for a moment, and couldn't see Vincent anywhere in sight. He then looked up to see Death Penalty spinning in the air, then fall the ground, sticking upright in the ground. Hojo wondered what was going around, only to see Valentine's good hand sticking right in front of his face, Valentine turned away from Hojo, with his claw arm tucked under his side. His thumb was tucked in on his good hand, as a reddish energy started to come from the palm of his good hand, that was right in front of Hojo's face. And as the light grew to about the size of a baseball, a small fiery pentagram appeared in the center, pulsating with energy and heat. Vincent looked to Hojo one last time, before looking away again. "For my mother and father." Vincent stated simply, before the orb exploded right in front of Hojo's face, taking off his head in the process. And as Hojo's headless body hit the ground, Vincent looked to him one last time, before moving away from him and picking up Death Penalty. He reholstered the rifle at his side, as he started off for the academy. But he only found himself making a few steps towards the mansion, before he stopped again. "Rest in Peace, Hojo." Vincent said simply, before walking back into the mansion, from the same hole he had created to get out. 


	10. A Fork In The Road

A Fork In The Road  
By V.Valentine  
  
A/N: Wow, Valentine's Day is complete. If any of you have ideas for a sequel, and there will be one, let me know. And yes, Vincent's alias is a mixture of the song from The Eagles and from Desperado, the movie with Antonio Banderas. Both seem to suit him pretty well. I want to thank everyone who have reviewed this story, and invite you to check out my other works. Next to be finished is Shifting Sands, my FF7-Star Trek: Voyager crossover. As always, please read and review and know I'm not making a damn cent off of any of this. Read on, True Believers!  
  
Christmas could certainly be an annoying time. At least that's what Vincent thought, despite all the cheery overtones and his own love of the holiday. It was the one day where it seemed that everyone decided to drop everything and actually be civil to one another. Vincent wasn't sure what it was about the holiday that made it that way, but he wasn't about to argue the facts. No one had tried to attack him or the X-men for at least the past month, and since the final fight with Hojo, he was certainly glad for that fact. It gave him time to re-cooperate for the changes he had undergone to fight the madman, but he was finally out of bed and moving around. Though, he didn't necessarily mind Emma's bedside manor.  
  
But despite having just regained his strength from the fight, Emma and the other adult teachers had decided to make him in charge of putting up the Christmas decorations around the manor. So, for the past week, he had been putting up things like the ornaments and the tree itself in the main lobby. He had actually gone out into the forest and picked out the tree himself, and with the help of Chaos, he had managed to carry it back here. That in itself wasn't bad, but the constant barrage of Kitty wanting to know what he wanted for a present, Ororo trying to get him into the student pictures for the Christmas cards, and Jean trying to help him out by mentally placing the popcorn strings along the tree's branches. Of course, as soon as Emma found out Jean was helping him, she quickly put a stop that. Emma did have a tendency to get rather possessive of him sometimes. And Emma, in her own right, had been helping him cope with all this responsibility by sending him "images" of her mentally. Vincent had decided he didn't mind that at all one bit.  
  
Almost as if on cue, Emma came into the living room, looking to Vincent as he was putting the decorations up on the tree. "Darling, would mind coming down for one moment?" Emma asked semi-sweetly as Vincent looked back to her and nodded, moving from the tree and slowly floating down to the ground level and to stand right next to her. "What's up?" Vincent asked, as Emma smiled as he looked to her, and then when she handed him a brightly wrapped gift. Vincent looked to the gift, then to her, and smiled slightly as he took the gift gently from her. "I suppose I'm getting a gift early?" Vincent mused as Emma nodded. "I figure you've been a good boy. You deserved something." She stated as Vincent removed the top of the box, only to find a Santa Claus outfit inside. To be more precise, a Mrs. Claus outfit. And Vincent was certain that any logical thinking mall official wouldn't allow their Mrs. Claus to wear something like this. Vincent held up the skimpy woman's costume, as he looked to Emma. "This is what I get for being good?" Vincent asked, as Emma shook her head and leaned closer to him.  
  
"No. That's what you get when you're being bad, and get sent to my room." She sensuously purred as she lightly leaned forward and kissed his lips softly, but then let it turn into a much deeper and passionate kiss. And as soon as the kiss broke, he looked to her and smiled. "I'm pretty sure I just did some bad things before you came in. I better get going then." Vincent teasingly said, as Emma slightly giggled and took his hand, but stopped abruptly as the rest of the X-men came into the living room. Emma quickly grabbed the box and tossed it away from the two of them, and quickly smiled to Vincent before looking to the others. Professor Xavier rolled out into the front of the group, as he looked to the tree that Vincent had put up. "Wonderful Job, Vincent. It looks splendid." Xavier commented with a smile, as Vincent nodded. "Thank you. It should be ready to be lit. It just needs to be plugged in. Jubilee raced out into the front, offering to do it, as she moved over to the plug and moved it into the wall socket. And there before them all, the tree lit up in a myriad of colors, the rainbow variety of lights illuminating all the branches on the tree. And there everyone stood for a moment, just looking to the wonderful sight, content with being with each other and not having someone attack them for once. "Well, if I'm not mistaken, I believe I heard someone mention the prospect of opening a few presents early before tomorrow morning?" The Beast pondered out loud, as the younger students immediately raced over to the tree and started sorting through the presents, handing out the appropriate ones to the correct people. Vincent could see that Scott and Jean had immediately paired up and sat in one of the loveseats, already exchanging gifts with each other. He looked to Ororo with a present behind her back walking up to Logan, who had taken his usual spot in the corner of the room, cautiously watching everyone. And Vincent saw the look on Logan's face when Ororo presented him with the present, and Logan taking Ororo's hand as an affectionate gesture, the only one he could give out in pubic, and especially out in front of the kids. Vincent then looked to the reunited pair of Rogue and Kurt, their first Christmas together since finding out that they were brother and sister. And Vincent especially remembered letting out a small laugh when the opened each other's gifts, a batch of homemade strudel for Rogue, and a Slayer t-shirt for Kurt.  
  
Vincent also looked to the Professor and Hank, each exchanging their favorite pieces of literary masterpieces with each other. Both of them, of course, immediately cracked into both of them, already turning pages of the books totally enraptured in them. But what surprised him the most was when Kitty walked up to him with two presents in her hands. "Here Vincent. This one is, like, yours." She said with a soft smile, as he nodded a thank you with a small smile as he opened. And he looked to the obsidian black electric guitar that was laying in the case in front of him, and the thought that Kitty had put into his present. "Thank You, Kitty. I...don't know what to say." He said with a smile, as Kitty nodded. "And this one is for Chaos. Do you think he'll want it?" Kitty asked as Vincent shrugged. "I'm not sure, why don't you ask him yourself?" Vincent asked and then, without effort, shifted to Chaos as the mighty demon looked to the present in front of him. Kitty had gone him a knife sharpener for his claws and talons. He looked to it for a moment, and then looked to Kitty. "Thank You, Katherine. I appreciate it." Chaos said with a nod, as Kitty nodded back and went back to the others handing out more gifts.  
  
Within the next moment, Vincent was back in Chaos's place as he looked to Emma, who was sitting right next to him on the arm of the second loveseat. "Does that mean that you're going to be playing that guitar for me in the future?" Emma asked coyly, as Vincent smirked and shrugged. "Maybe. If you're good." Vincent stated simply as he looked to the others and their gifts. And this was probably the first time in his life that he didn't feel alone, and that he truly did have a family. He wasn't just some lone wolf, or a freak of science that was never meant to be, but a person. And that was possibly the greatest gift to him that anyone could have ever given him. Emma slid down to sit next to him, her arms contently around Vincent's waist, as Amara lit a fire in the fireplace, and they stopped to watch the Yule log burning. Hank went out of the room quickly only to come back with a bottle of Champagne for the adults, and sparkling apple cider for the younger kids.  
  
And as the drinks were being poured, Vincent looked to Emma, and then looked to the window outside. With a slight use of his material, he gently began to make it snow outside, deciding to give them a white Christmas as a present to everyone else. He gently took Emma's hand, and lightly kissed it, and looked deep into her china blue eyes. "You know, I don't think I could have survived without you. I hope you know that." Vincent said, as he could see Emma blush slightly and nod. "I knew that. I can read minds after all. Nothing comes to me as a surprise." Emma stated smugly, but with a hint of jesting, as Vincent nodded. He then reached into his jeans and pulled out a small box as he gently lifted the lid, to show a pure diamond ring in the center. "Then you must already know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And then I'm going to ask you to marry me." He says with a smirk, only to see Emma's jaw drop. "But, if you already know, no point in asking you then." Vincent said, moving like he was going to close the box and put it away. "No!" Emma cried out slightly, drawing attention from some of the others. Vincent couldn't help but laugh, as he nodded and reopened the box. "Will you marry me, Emma?" Vincent asked, as Emma drew a deep breath in before answering.  
  
But before anything could be said, a large thud could be heard outside, as then the door sounded like it was flung open. And within a few moments later, before anyone could react, a very large red lion came bursting into the parlor, skidding to a halt in the center of them all, accompanied by a muscular black man with what looked a gatling gun on his right arm, and a blonde haired man with an oversized spear across his shoulders. The three of them came to a halt and took up a defensive fighting stance. The blonde haired man, with a lit cigarette in his mouth, looked to all of them before anything could be said. "Alright, you god damned numbskulls. Where the fuck is Vincent Valentine?"  
  
Fin? 


End file.
